Men's Basketball Wins 1 of 3 at Saddleback Tournament

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The MSJC men's basketball team had a good start to the weekend, winning on Thursday, but the Eagles followed with two tough losses at the Bill Brummell Classic held at Saddleback.

The Eagles had a strong start Thursday building a six point halftime lead against Los Angeles Trade Tech and then pulling away from the Beavers in the second half for an easy 99-74 victory. In Thursday's tournament opener MSJC had five players reach double figures in scoring with Tre Nottingham leading the way with 22. Jaryn Taylor had a double double with 19 points and a game high 14 rebounds. Carl Brown was next for the Eagles with 14 points while Mat Bradshaw added 12 and Jeremy Bonifacio had 10 in the victory.

In Friday's semi-final game the Eagles could not quite get over the hump against Irvine Valley as they trailed by three at the half and kept it close the whole way, but were unable to ever take the lead as they fell 66-57. Nottingham led all scorers in the game with 27 points, he also grabbed 8 rebounds. Bradshaw also reached double figures for the second straight day with 13 points off the bench.

In Saturday's third place game MSJC could not overcome a slow start and despite a strong second half effort lost to Mira Costa 83-74. Nottingham had 18 points on Saturday while Taylor had his second double double of the weekend with 10 points and 13 boards. Curtis Weathers had his best offensive game of the weekend with 16 points and Bradshaw, this time in a starting role hit double digits once again with 10.

The Eagles, who now will have some time off for the Holidays, are 12-7 on the season. MSJC has played one of the toughest schedules in the State up to this point in the season. The Eagles will return to action on Friday January 6th when they travel to San Luis Obispo to take on El Camino in the Cuesta College Classic. MSJC will play three games at Cuesta over that weekend.

MSJC's Mat Bradshaw scored in double figures all three days of the Bill Brummell Classic at Saddleback, but the Eagles were only able to win one of their three games. MSJC now 12-7 on the season will have a couple of weeks off, before resuming play in San Luis Obispo on January 6th. (DeeAnn Bradley/MSJC).